


The Works

by TurtleNovas



Series: Amelioration [4]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen, Insecure Steve, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Season 1 & 2 canon compliant, Self-Esteem Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 07:43:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13049595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TurtleNovas/pseuds/TurtleNovas
Summary: Following right after Steve drops Dustin off at the dance, Steve waits and then takes him home.





	The Works

Steve doesn't actually go anywhere after Dustin goes inside. He just drives slowly into the parking lot, trying not to feel too stupid for the sting that still comes with seeing Nancy and not rushing up to greet her with a hug and a kiss. He pulls into a space about half way across the lot, where the doors of the gym are in view, but not close enough that Dustin will feel like he's impatient to leave again. He sees Mrs. Byers and the chief over by the pool, looking pretty cozy, and considers nipping over to say hello, but decides against it. They look like they need to be having whatever conversation they're having, and honestly, he's not sure he was around for enough of the crazy shit to warrant any special attention from them.

Instead he reaches into the back seat and pulls his backpack into his lap. He has a lot of homework that he's been putting off for one reason or another, and he figures now is as good a time as any to put a dent in it. Plus, if he does it here, it means he doesn't have to go home, which is always a bonus. He's parked under a street lamp, so there's plenty of light flooding through the windows for him to see his reading. If he's honest, he doesn't understand much of it, but that's no surprise. He knows he's not the smartest cookie; knows he'd probably be going nowhere fast if his dad didn't own the company where he'll spend the rest of his life as an employee.

Still, if there's one thing he took away from dating Nancy, it's that he can at least try. Maybe he won't get into some big, fancy college, but there's a little city college just outside of town that he might have a chance at. It's a place he could go and at least try to find something he likes, or is good at while he works part time for his dad. At the very least, he could come out with a degree of some kind, which would sort of be an accomplishment, he thinks.

He sighs, rubbing the corner of the page between his fingers and rolling his eyes as he has to start the same paragraph over for the third time. He's trying to take notes the way Nancy taught him - to pick out the most important part of each paragraph and rewrite it in his own words so that it'll stick in his mind later. He's trying to do all that without thinking about the night Nancy showed him how to do it, or about the way she had smiled and kissed him when he showed her what he'd written for that night's history reading. She'd been proud of him then, he thought; had really been glad to have taught him something.

He tries very hard not to look towards the gym where he knows Nancy is as he wonders to himself if she really had been happy to be there with him at all, or if it was just a farce like everything else. He wonders what she must have thought of him - not even smart enough to take notes on his own without her holding his hand. He thinks the answer is probably, "not much," since, apparently, when all the filters are gone, she thinks he's bullshit. He remembers those first months of dating her, all the mistakes he made, the ways he hurt her, and he thinks she's probably right about that.

He closes the book with a loud thud and presses at his eyes with the heels of his hands. He's not going to fucking cry in the parking lot of a middle school dance, no matter how much the thought of her bites at him and feels like it's chewing him raw. He's lucky she put up with his shit as long as she did, he tells himself. Even though, after everything, when she'd finally come back to him and said they could try again, he'd thought that he'd done enough. He'd thought he'd been trying hard enough to show her how much he cared and how sorry he really was. He'd thought a lot of things that were wrong, though. It was nothing new. Maybe it only hurts so bad because he really believed he was doing it right. She probably thought he was too stupid to take a hint if she gave him one; probably spent ages trying to figure out a way to let him down easy until Steve ruined everything by taking her to that party and it all just came out.

He rests his forehead on the steering wheel and tries to push the thoughts away. It's over now, and that's all that matters. She's happy without him, and he knows for next time that he needs to try a lot harder, that he's shittier than he gave himself credit for, that whoever he's with, he probably won't deserve them, either. You can't move forward if you don't recognize your own faults, he thinks, pressing his face harder into the steering wheel, so that it feels like the pressure might blossom into one of those monster headaches he sometimes gets now, and the pain is enough to justify the small prick of tears still irritating his eyes.

By the time kids start filtering out of the exit, meeting their parents in the parking lot or by the pick up line, Steve has mostly pulled himself together, and managed to finish a few pages worth of reading and notes. He puts his things back into his bag and turns to sit properly in his seat. He's just pulling his seat belt on when Dustin opens the door and gets in. He looks up after sliding the buckle home and tries his best to smile convincingly. "Hey, buddy! How was the dance?"

Steve's not sure if it's his mood coloring his perception or not, but Dustin's wide grin looks almost as unconvincing as Steve's feels. "It was great! Tons of fun!"

Steve feels his brow furrowing, and hopes he doesn't sound too incredulous when he asks, "Yeah?"

Dustin's smile falters a little, and Steve is relieved to know that, at least when it comes to Dustin, he can still read the room. "Yeah, sure," Dustin says, even less convincing, with a little crack in his voice.

Steve, not sure what to say, reaches over and pats his knee before shifting out of park and beginning the short drive back to Dustin's house. After a few minutes of quiet, he clears his throat and sends a quick look Dustin's way. "You know, if it wasn't great, you can tell me."

He hears a bare huff of a laugh beside him, and then, after another long moment, Dustin finally replies, "No one wanted to dance with me, and all my friends were dancing with each other." He sighs, and when Steve glances over again, he's looking out the window, seemingly determined to avoid eye contact. "I mean, uh," he hesitates for a breath. "Nancy asked me, but it was just a pity dance, so it doesn't count." Steve tries not to wince at the mention of her, appreciates Dustin's rushed explanation and realizes Dustin is probably trying to spare Steve's feelings as much as relay his own disappointment. "She saw me crying on the bleachers," he adds, much more quietly, and Steve feels his gut roll, his heart suddenly trying to beat out of his chest. He has to fight the urge to pull over just so he can give Dustin a hug.

Instead, he just says, "I'm sorry man. That's total shit." He hates how stupid and useless it sounds, wishes he were smart enough, or sensitive enough, or good enough to think of the right thing. He catches the movement of Dustin shrugging in his periphery, tries not to think about the way he grunts noncommittally and still won't stop looking out the window.

Steve hates it. This kid has been through too much, is too selfless, and too effervescent, and deserves better than to be left crying alone on the bleachers at a dance he attended with his fucking friends. He likes all of the kids, but even if Dustin weren't his favorite, he'd say it was shit of them to leave Dustin on his own. Steve's hold on the wheel is so tight his hands are beginning to ache, but he doesn't loosen his grip, too lost in trying to come up with some way to make it right; some way to make up for the, apparently, terrible advice he'd given Dustin that had led to his heartbreak.

 

* * *

 

When Dustin gets out of the car, Steve kills the engine and gets out with him, following him up to the door and smiling vaguely at him when Dustin looks confused. "Invite me in," Steve says, with an air of confidence that reminds Dustin again why Steve is popular and Dustin...isn't.

"Okay," he replies, because Steve comes over all the time, and it's not _so_ unusual. "Would you like to come in, Steve?"

Steve grins at him then, and his face is so obviously good looking that it would be annoying if he weren't so freaking nice. "Yes, I would love to Dustin. Thanks so much."

He says it like it's a joke between them, like he's not just coming inside to chat with Dustin's mom or something for a few minutes before he has to go back home, and it confuses Dustin a little, but he's learned that, sometimes, Steve is just weird, and that's okay.

As soon as they're through the door, his mom is on them, asking a million questions a minute about how the dance went, and Dustin is doing his best to answer cheerfully, to make sure he doesn't say anything that will make her worry when Steve calls out from across the living room, "May I, Claudia?" And when they look, he's standing by the record player, fingering the stack of vinyls his mom has collected over the years.

A look that Dustin can't interpret comes over his mom's face, and then, bafflingly, is matched on Steve's, and Dustin is about to get annoyed that, apparently they're sharing secrets without him, when his mom replies, "Of course, sweetheart. Whatever you like."

Then he's distracted by Steve grinning again, winking cheekily at Dustin's mom. "Great, thanks! You've got excellent taste, by the way."

She just waves him off with a smile and then she's turning to head down the hall, all questions dropped, saying over her shoulder as she goes, "I'll just leave you to it, then, shall I?" And she's disappeared into her room before either of them can answer.

"What the hell?" Dustin asks no one in particular, mystified and bewildered all at once. His mom has never given up asking about a special occasion so easily in all the years of his life. He looks at Steve, hoping to find some answers there, but Steve isn't looking at him. He's dropped a record onto the platter and is focusing very hard on placing the needle in a certain spot.

After another few seconds, the opening beats of _I Want to Break Free_ (one of his mom's favorites) start to play, and Steve is grinning. He leaves the record player and saunters over to Dustin, his steps swaying a little with the beat. Dustin is not entirely sure what is going on, if he's being honest.

Steve stops about a foot away, and Dustin thinks he might've hallucinated the quick flash of uncertainty on his face before he holds out his hand and says, "Hey, dance with me?"

Dustin thinks maybe he's supposed to laugh and say no, but then Steve looks earnest, and Dustin knows he's not capable of the kind of meanness that would be making fun of Dustin not getting a real dance. So Dustin shrugs and takes his hand, still sounds a little flummoxed when he says, "Yeah, okay."

Steve's smile is soft then, and he puts Dustin's hands on his waist and drops his own arms on Dustin's shoulders, and then they're swaying around the room, and Steve is just smiling at him.

It's a fast song, or at least, much faster than the ones that had been playing earlier when people were dancing this way. But it's easy, because this is just Steve, and Dustin knows it's fine if they miss a step, because Steve just catches him by the hands and starts twirling them around the room even more ridiculously. He's swinging their arms, and leading Dustin in wide, boxy steps around the whole living room, and Dustin can't help but smile, because this is ridiculous, and he's pretty sure Steve would be mortified if anyone at school saw him doing this.

Then Steve starts singing along, his eyes bright and happy and Dustin just laughs delightedly and goes twirling along with him. When the song ends, during the brief pause before the next begins, Steve slows them down a little, brings them back to their original positions and says, "Damn, Dusty. They don't know what they're missing."

Before Dustin can think of anything to say to that, the next song has started, and Steve is pulling him back around the room, making goofy faces, and looking (at least it feels) straight into Dustin's soul when he loudly belts out the line, " _You just gotta be strong and believe in yourself. Forget all the sadness cause love is all you need._ " And honestly, this song is probably a little depressing when Dustin thinks about it, but it's hard to think about it at all with Steve pulling him to a stop in a cheesy pose halfway through so that Dustin's mom can take a Polaroid. (When had she come back out? Dustin hadn't even noticed.)

It's towards the end of _Hammer to Fall_ that Steve maneuvers them back over to the record player, still moving with the music, and moving Dustin along with him. When the last chords of the song play, he deftly lifts the needle, and brings the music to a stop. He sounds breathless and happy when he turns to Dustin and asks for the second time that night, "So, how was the dance?"

Dustin grins, finally catching on to what Steve was doing, but somehow can't muster up that nasty feeling he had about the pity dance with Nancy. "You are such a dork," he replies happily, smacking Steve gently on the shoulder. Then, more sincerely, "The dance was awesome. Thanks."

"Great!" Is what Steve says in response. "That's exactly what I like to hear." He squeezes Dustin's shoulder, says more mildly, "Thanks for indulging me."

Dustin's not really sure what to say, again, but it seems like Steve isn't expecting a response, because he just winks and twirls away with a flourish, stopping to give a shallow bow in front of Dustin's mom. "Thank you for having me, Claudia. I'll see you later this week for dinner."

Then he's gone out the door, and Dustin hears his car pulling out of the drive. It's late, and he'll probably be in trouble when he gets home, but he hadn't seemed too bothered by the prospect.

Dustin turns to his mom, and she's looks happier than he's seen her in years when she says, "I'm glad you have such a nice friend, Dusty. He's a really good boy."

"Yeah. He's awesome," he tells her, somewhat agog.

For the life of him, Dustin cannot stop smiling.

 

**Author's Note:**

> The title is the name of the Queen album they were dancing to.


End file.
